


Crowded Elevator

by gayhandshake



Series: Meaningless [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Brotherly Bonding, Gen, romantic pairings are background/implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-23 01:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11392713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayhandshake/pseuds/gayhandshake
Summary: "Alec decides to switch tactics, now that he knows Jace is having soft, gooey feelings. Maia is possibly the first woman Jace has ever been interested in who wasn’t a sucking blackhole of disaster. Now is the time for subtle encouragement, not ribbing."---Alec catches Jace leaving Maia's place and is excited for the opportunity to shit talk him before he's thwarted by Genuine Feelings.





	Crowded Elevator

**Author's Note:**

> You should definitely read the piece before this, but the only TRULY critical information from there is that Maia lives in Magnus's building.

Alec stands at ease in the elevator, hands tucked behind his back, trying to sort out everything he needs to do before the cabinet meeting later this week. He needs to assign security detail, he needs to get a definitive answer from Luke, he needs to speak with the groundskeeper about what they have in the greenhouse that would go with the banners. He wonders if red was the right choice. Is that too violent a color? Would that set the wrong tone? Magnus had said he’d liked the red, and he trusts Magnus’s tastes over his own any day.

And, God, _Magnus_. Alec has no clue what to do because something is so obviously not right with him. He’s determined not to fuck up the way he had with Izzy, but all of Alec’s attempts to get him to talk about it had been thwarted with easy smiles or soft kisses or light hearted deflections. He sighs and decides he just has to make sure he’s around when the dam does finally break.

Alec is surprised, but not displeased when the elevator stops its descent halfway down. He’d started to build something of a rapport with Maia since he’d been spending so much time in Magnus’s building, but usually they caught each other when Alec was coming in for the night, and she was heading out for a shift at the bar. He’d only caught her on the morning elevator ride once or twice. It’d be nice to take his mind off of everything for a minute and talk about what’s she’s reading now.

Alec’s hope very quickly becomes confusion when the doors open, and he finds Jace instead. He’s laughing as he shakes his jacket off of his head from where Maia had just pelted it at him from her door. Jace turns around and his laughter dies a sudden death. It’s kind of a shame; Alec hadn’t heard him laugh like that in a long time. Behind him, Maia sees Alec and shakes her head before slamming the door quickly.

“What’re you doing here?” Jace demands. Alec’s upper lip curls and his eyebrows draw inward.

“What am _I_ doing here? I live here, what are _you_ doing here?” Alec says before he can think it through.

Jace’s eyes and mouth widen near comically in outrage, “You _live_ here? Since when?! Why didn’t you tell me?” Alec splutters for a second before the doors start to slide closed. He throws his arm between them to keep them open.

“Just. Get in the elevator if you’re getting in the elevator,” he says instead of answering.

Jace purses his lips and enters the elevator silently, refusing the make any sort of eye contact at all. Alec gives the side of his head his best stink eye, not willing to be the first to break.

Jace folds like they’re 14 again and Alec’s just caught him with a Mundane lingerie catalogue.

“What?” he snaps, finally turning to face Alec and crossing his arms defensively.

Alec raises his eyebrows and sucks his lips inward and stares at Jace for a few more seconds for good measure. He’s been robbed of a discussion on classic literature, but he’ll be damned if he’s going to miss this opportunity for ribbing. Alec can’t remember the last time Jace looked so embarrassed to be found with a hook up, and he's curious about what makes this so different.

“Sorry, I just don’t remember the part of my order to take care of the tracking chip where I said ‘and then sleep with her.’ I must have blacked out for a second, all that power going to my head,” Alec says, flapping a hand around his head to indicate his incapacitated state. Jace scowls and opens his mouth to respond, but Alec continues before he can get a word out, “And, what? Were you following the three day rule? Wait a few days before you hit up the girl you accidentally had LoJacked for sex, you don’t want to seem desperate?” A deep, unflattering red makes its way up Jace’s neck, and he turns away from Alec again.

“It’s not like that,” he says gruffly. Alec’s smirk disappears as he tries to process the information just presented to him. Jace fidgets uncomfortably in the silence, and Alec realizes his easy acquiescence isn’t the only thing reminding him of when they were 14.

“Jace, do you have a crush on Maia?”

Jace whips his head around and looks at Alec with what can only be described as betrayal, “I’m a grown man, Alec, what the fuck. I don’t get _crushes_ ,” he says, spitting venom behind the word. A sure sign that Jace did indeed have a crush on Maia. Alec decides to switch tactics, now that he knows Jace is having soft, gooey feelings. Maia is possibly the first woman Jace has ever been interested in who wasn’t a sucking blackhole of disaster. Now is the time for subtle encouragement, not ribbing.

Alec holds his hands up in surrender and turns to face the doors. He musters all of the diplomacy he’s had beat into him since he was a child. “Well, I like Maia. You could do a lot worse,” Alec offers, “We talk about books.” Jace looks at him, a petulant pout on his face.

“What kind of books?” he asks finally. Alec silently does a victory cheer.

As Alec answers, the doors open on the ground floor, “She likes classics. I can lend you a few if you want.” Jace is silent when they exit the building together, squinting unhappily into the bright midmorning sun, but he eventually nods decisively. “Great, I’ll pick out a few that won’t strain you too much,” Alec taunts. Jace rolls his eyes before smiling sharply.

“Now, will you be picking those up from the Institute or your home, Magnus Bane’s lair?”

It’s Alec’s turn for ugly red-face embarrassment, and he can’t say he appreciates it.

“Shut up. It’s not – I’m just there a lot. Nothing’s official,” he says.

“Yet,” Jace says with assurance. Alec smiles slightly and nods.

“Yet.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
